


Red Sky In The Morning

by April__flower



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Historical, Alternate Universe - Pirate, Angst with a Happy Ending, Fluff, M/M, Period-Typical Homophobia, Religious Conflict, Sex Toys, Smut, Spanish Inquisition
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-19
Updated: 2020-10-19
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:55:13
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26445217
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/April__flower/pseuds/April__flower
Summary: Jongdae awaits for the tide that brings Minseok back home. But some tides only bring out the truth his heart doesn’t want to see.
Relationships: Kim Jongdae | Chen/Kim Minseok | Xiumin
Comments: 18
Kudos: 73
Collections: Shall we Chen? Fictional Fest First Round





	Red Sky In The Morning

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: #SWC289  
> Author's note:  
> It feels so good to finally post this story! After months working on it is great to share it with you all and it wouldn't be possible with the help of my beta!  
> Dear prompter, please forgive me for taking the less expected path but there are so little pirate stories with XiuChen that I had to do it! Writing those characters in such a particular time and place was an amazing experience and I hope I was able to make justice to them...  
> I will add a little glossary at the End Notes explaining some terms and the historical context in care there is any confusion!  
> Now, please enjoy the story!

There was a shared belief among sailors in the Indian ocean that danger always waits in the cold winds that came after a storm. 

For there is where the El Dorado always waits to attack. Fools are those who think they can escape. But they always thought they would be the ones defeating the El Dorado. Some even looked for them, mind clouded by the promises of gold and power that would come with the head of their captain. 

The thick smell of smoke and blood was almost as strong as the salty smell of the sea. Minseok couldn’t stop himself from frowning as he made his way through the corpses around him. Another set of fools lying at his feet because of ambitions they would never achieve was now dirtying his beautiful ship’s deck too close to their destination.

“Could you lazy rats throw those to the sea today?” he growled, looking at his crew with narrowed eyes. 

“Chill, Cap,” Baekhyun said, throwing an arm around his shoulders. “I’m sure the smell will be gone before we get to Malacca. Your little boy toy will never know!”

Minseok gave him a cold glance, slowly lifting his sword to his chin. “Careful with your tongue Byun, I may have a slip of a hand.”

“Don’t lift your sword in my direction unless you are going to use it,” he protested, pushing the blade down with his free hand. “What do you want us to do with the survivors? Ransom?” Baekhyun lifted an eyebrow, ”I think one of them may be the second son of someone important.”

“Kill them. All of them.”

“All? But the gol—”

“I will not repeat myself,” Minseok stopped him. “If you can’t do it, bring them to the main deck, I will kill them myself.”

“But M—”

“Enough, you know my rules!” Minseok screamed, eyes locked on Baekhyun.

“Yes, cap…” he mumbled before leaving the deck.

The rules. Those were Minseok’s laws in and out of the ship and they were just as ruthless as the man himself. Number one was a no survivors policy, after all, Minseok was a legend—a shadow of a demon on earth that always sailed under a red flag. No quarters whatsoever. 

The tales had that much right. A capable crew guided by a cruel demon, that took the form of a man without a face for no one had ever survived to tell how said demon looked. Minseok was more than happy with those arrangements, he had someone waiting for him at the port of the city of Malacca. Jongdae—his sweet treasure, who could never know about Minseok’s way of living. 

Not that he was ashamed of it. He wasn’t. Becoming the demon of the sea was something that he loved in a very twisted way. But he loved his sweet Jongdae more, and his angel would never look at him again if he knew, especially since he was a hit himself at the beginning.

His treasure was the bastard son of Malacca’s captain-mor, people usually called him a Nhon, but Jongdae was the result of a powerful frank taking interest in the daughter of a Korean merchant before she found out about his very European wife. But against all odds, his father did take responsibility for him, raising him between the protected walls of their port to take his place whenever he needed to travel back to his motherland. The small thing grew easily into a man that knew a lot about politics, trade, and laws, but very little about the grey areas of life, maybe that led him to fall so easily into Minseok’s web. 

A web, at least in the beginning, full of sweet lies. 

_It may still be,_ Minseok pondered. Yes, he did lie in the beginning and he did make all of Jongdae roads lead to him, whispering empty promises and beautiful words that had little to no value, just to have someone on the inside. Someone to legally sell every product his ship brought in without many questions about their origin. Someone that could get him some canons without lifting questions. And someone that had every route of Black ships on his deck.

What were those? A pirate dream. A ship that caught in different spots brought different materials: spices and cotton from Goa to trade for silk, exotic animals, and weapons from Macau to sell in Nagasaki, just to come back to Goa full of silver. 

Those ships always sailed right by Malacca and it was important to Minseok to know when they wouldn’t stop there. If they didn’t stop, Minseok’s crew could easily sell their stolen merchandise back to the Franks without them ever knowing. And if they did find out, the blame would fall on Jongdae’s shoulders, as the man that allowed their ship in their port. 

Or at least that was his main goal. The perfect raid to make him a legend between pirates lost its importance somewhere along the way, because Minseok fell for his hit. Betraying his treasure in such a way wasn’t an option. He would rather die in prison than to hurt his lover in any way.

So he made a new plan: a few more raids and he was done with piracy, maybe work on building a legit business, Minseok just needed to put more money aside to make sure they would never have to worry over finances.

Just a few more and he would work to make every lie true, just for his treasure.

🏴☠️🌊

“Already waiting for your prince charming?” Tao asked, amused after finding Jongdae glued to the window of his office. 

“Shut up!” he mumbled. “Minseok must be arriving, they left for Ningbo... What? Three months ago?”

“You tell me, I’m not the one counting the days.”

Jongdae ignored him, eyes fixed on the shore. “The El Dorado is a fast ship, they should be back before the end of the month. Should I prepare a rescue fleet if they don’t arrive until then?” he pondered.

“Breathe, Jongdae, your father will kill you if you use the crown resources to rescue a ship that isn’t ours or from our allies.”

“But—” Tao stopped him with the raise of a hand. “Minseok is a capable captain that fricks the hell out of everyone, he is fine. Actually, I would probably be more worried about anyone that tried to stop him from coming back to his _princess_.”

“First of all, he doesn’t call me that, so stop it!” Jongdae whined leaving the window to meet Tao at his desk, “Secondly, why? Minseok can’t even hurt a fly, he is so gentle and kind.” He laughed.

To that Tao chose to stay quiet. 

‘Gentle and kind’ were words that only Jongdae would use to describe his lover and Tao had very specific orders from his very scary captain to be Jongdae’s shadow on his absence to make sure nothing about his activities got to Jongdae’s ears. 

Sometimes the job was just funny - watching Jongdae describe his captain as an angel was very amusing to him—but after Jongdae’s father visited them, everything became difficult.

“Tao, have you or Sehun heard anything about the pirate ship father warned us about?” he asked, taking his seat, overlooking the new letters on his deck.

“No, nothing. I’m sure your father was just exaggerating.”

“Can you double-check, please? I can’t screw this up.” He sighed, leaning back on his chair. 

“Come on, you are doing your best.”

“Father doesn’t think so, I…” he hesitated, biting his bottom lip. ”He thinks I’m becoming way too much like the gentiles, he talked about marrying me off to some Chinese or European family if they accept to take me.”

“What?” he mumbled in disbelief, not even sure if he heard it right. “He can not be serious!”

“He is and I need to prove that I’m capable. If I fail to do so, well, I may as well run away with Minseok on his next trip if I do not wish to be wed to some noble girl I never saw in my life.”

“Why don’t you?” Tao wondered, taking a seat on the office’s couch. “I mean, he is crazy about you, I’m sure he would take you.”

“Because he is very dear to me and I know he loves me, but I can’t help but feel like he always keeps me away from his job, his crew,” Jongdae said, giving Tao a sad smile, “his life.”

 _Like I’m always too far away from actually knowing him,_ Jongdae kept those words to himself. Tao was Minseok’s crewmate and ears before being his friend, in reality, he owed his life to the captain so his loyalty was clear.

“Jongdae…”

He raised his hand, stopping Tao, while his eyes lazily drifted to the sea. “Do you find it possible for a man to own the sea?”

“We both know that is not possible,” he answered, sounding confused.

“Nor it is possible to own a man of the sea,” the oldest explained lightheartedly. “I never hoped to keep Minseok with me, I’m merely thankful for the waves that brought him to me and I will keep being so until the day they decide to take him in another way.”

“What do you mean?” 

“That he is not mine to own nor to ask to keep,” he mumbled with a kind smile on his lips.

Tao didn’t say anything to that, finding it quite amusing how different Jongdae’s views were from his captain’s. To Minseok, Jongdae was his, no one could change that and Tao prayed to the gods to pity those that decided to try because Minseok would not. 

“Let’s have a drink,” he invited while getting up from the couch, ”you have been stuck to that window for days and I know Sehun misses his favourite custom!”

“I seriously doubt that,” Jongdae laughed in amusement. “I would bet my ass that he is torturing some poor, very much married, thing in one of his rooms.”

“Wanna bet? I’m sure the captain would pay me good money to have your ass back…” Tao suggested with a teasing smile while he made his way to Jongdae’s chair.

Jongdae rolled his eyes. He knew better than to try to argue with Tao, the youngest would get the best of him either way, so it was easier for him to go with the flow instead of pretending to do some job with a whiny puppy on his lovely couch. 

“Let’s go, but if I miss Minseok’s arrival, you are the one to explain it to him why!” 

“Don’t worry your pretty head over that.”

He didn’t, Jongdae knew that his lover would never lay a hand on him or even get mad over something so small. To be completely honest, Minseok never got angry with him, except for the time he tried to sneak into his ship to surprise him, and back then he didn’t as much as scream at him.

When they were past the front door, Tao took a step back from Jongdae, after all in everyone's eyes Tao was a servant—not a fit to stand by Jongdae’s side, but fit enough to follow him. He deeply hated those behaviours, but with his father’s men in every corner and every noble looking for a reason to make him send Jongdae away, it would have been stupid to not play along. Fortunately, their fort was rather small and Sehun’s tavern-slash-brothel was a few streets down his building and right by the port. 

If Tao was his ears around the city, Sehun was his eyes. Nothing happened without Sehun knowing about it, mostly because his girls and—not so publicly displayed—boys made it their business to know everything and everyone. And knowledge in their little piece of the world was power.

So maybe Jongdae would not have been so surprised to be greeted with screams and a half-naked man when he got to Sehun’s door. He stopped on his trails, staring at the musketeer Sehun had thrown over his right shoulder as the man tried to gather his clothes to leave.

“Should I be worried?” Jongdae questioned Tao, not sure of what to think of the scene in front of him.

“Keep moving scallywag or I’m going to shoot you for indecency on my property,” Sehun mocked with a perfectly blank expression.

“Long Shui, a Chinese merchant, never brings anything in except troubles. He liked to play around with Sehun’s girls by marking them and rumour has it that his crew was the one responsible for the beating of one of his boys,” Tao whispered into his ear as they watched the scene unfold. “A troublemaker then…” Tao confirmed with a quick nod. ”Let’s get in. Remind me later to pass them a ban, if he doesn’t bring more than trouble then he can fuck off.”

They got past Sehun very quietly, not wanting to ruin the unsettling atmosphere of tension and fear the youngest had so well built for their little abuser. As usual, they took their seat by the counter waiting patiently for their host.

Jongdae could feel the eyes on him; he was used to it. The whispers and rumours were always part of his life, but no one had ever said a thing or made a scene under Sehun’s roof. It was almost as if they feared his reaction or the consequences of taking a direct stand against him there. Instead, they just ignored him, choosing to whisper their lies among themselves rather than trying to touch him or confront him as they did when he was younger. 

Little did he know that their fear was not what Sehun could do to them, but the red sea that would come from touching a single hair on Jongdae’s head.

“My two favourite boys, how can I help you today?” Sehun greeted them with a smile, carefully passing his musketeer to one of his girls. ”I have especially missed you, our little landlubber.”

“I told you he missed you, your ass is mine now!” Tao joked with a proud smile. ”How much do you think I could get for it, Hunnie?”

“Don’t know, the captain would probably offer you a broken leg for the bet and a rifted spine for the thought,” Sehun derided as he led on the counter with a smug smile. 

“You don’t need to tell everything to the boss!”

“He bought me the place, of course, I have to,” Sehun laughed, filling two glasses of wine for them.

“I will never understand you, Minseok is so sweet and kind!” 

“No, landlubber, he is a very scary man that happens to be very much in love with your cute little ass, so don’t put it on a bet unless you want the person dead.”

“I can bet my ass if I want! It is still mine!” Jongdae whined a bit too loud.

“No, it is not,” a voice bristled, not at all amused by said talk, and so close to Jongdae’s ear that he could feel breathing on his neck. ”Did I die at the sea to lose my rights over it?”

His brain stopped for a moment. That voice was from his Minseok.

His whole body turned in response, heart waking at the image of his lover at mere centimetres from him and completely safe. 

Knowing better than anyone to not make a scene, Jongdae’s eyes made a quick scan over Minseok’s body. Two arms, two legs, 10 fingers, a still perfect smile, and two eyes. He did ignore his beautiful tan and chest muscles on purpose, preferring to admire how good Minseok looked on a white poet shirt and black breeches with a silk brocade slash around his waist. He knew that brocade, it was a present from his father, Jongdae had given it to Minseok after making the oldest promise to return it to him.

“Hello, my treasure, are you going to tell me what story is that of betting your ass?” Minseok baited. Jongdae could see the lust in his eyes and the way his body was pressing him against the counter.

“I—I… It was just a joke.”

Minseok tilted his head with mocking eyes and parted lips before darting his eyes at Sehun, “Is my room clean?”

“Clean and ready boss,” he answered, trying to hide his amusement over Jongdae's shock.

“Y—you just go here, don’t you need to stretch your legs first?” Jongdae suggested, trying to swallow the knot in his throat.

“No, I want to play with my treasure,” Minseok purred, slowly stepping away from Jongdae. ”Take some water and whiskey with you, dear.”

He knew the drill, gave some time for Minseok to get to his room, and asked Sehun for a girl. A whole act just to not attract too much attention from the wrong crew. No sailor that was a regular in Malacca would betray Minseok, but others were very likely to throw Jongdae into the flames without a second thought just for some benefits.

“Looks like your ass will have some action… You can go, my dear Rose will take you there.”

Jongdae took the bottle of whiskey and the jar of water Sehun offered him and went to meet the girl. She was nice enough to carry the water for him after seeing how his hands were shaking. 

Not of fear as she may have thought, but of want. He missed Minseok more than one could miss the sun and his love was back once again in full health. There was nothing more he desired than to kiss him and to hear every tale Minseok may have to offer from his travel to China. Politics and pirates could wait, even the threat of his arranged marriage could wait.

Now the important thing was them and only them.

🏴☠️🌊

Minseok wasn’t exactly happy when he left the ship to be met with an empty pier when he was used to being received by his treasure that always had a beautiful kitty smile on his lips just for him. Finding him at the bar was his very last straw.

Contrary to popular belief, Minseok did have a heart, a Jongdae-shaped heart. And he does like to take care of his belongings so he had planned to make Sehun close the tavern, just to have a nice romantic dinner with his baby before giving some gifts he—legally—got him in China and then maybe taking him.

But no, his baby had to go and make him growl in jealousy by actually betting his ass. 

So he watched shirtless and silent from his bed while Jongdae got into the room. The youngest did his best to appear small as he left the bottles on the table and took his shoes off. In a bigger room, he may have been capable of it, but Minseok’s room was already rather small with only the bed taking most of its space.

“Baby, will you tell Hyung about the bet now?”

“H—Hyung, it was just a joke.”

“Not a very funny joke, is it?” he asked, eyes fixed on Jongdae's. Minseok could see how nervous Jongdae was, truly scared of having done something wrong, so he patted the space beside him on the bed. ”Be a good boy and come here will you?”

Jongdae nodded, stealing a little smile from Minseok when he almost ran to the bed. He was just too cute for his little heart.

Minseok smiled, softly taking Jongdae’s face into his hands to kiss his eyelids and nose before whispering. ”Hyung missed you a lot, my treasure,” his thumb felt rough against Jongdae’s cheekbones but he kept caressing them, ”can you understand how hurt I was to find you joking about betting something that is mine?”

“I’m sorry, Hyung…” he lamented with big puppy eyes leaning into Minseok’s touch.

“Now baby, we both know you can do better than that,” Minseok coaxed

Jongdae’s lips are on Minseok’s before the oldest had even a chance of holding him back and he could feel it, all the lust tingling under their skin like static. A muffled moan left Jongdae’s lips before Minseok pulled him by the waist against his body, kissing hard.

The feeling of their tongues was almost feverish and it still surprised Minseok how Jongdae always seemed to take whatever he gave him and always asked for more. He could feel him eagerly climbing into his lap just to press their hips harder against one another.

“Please, Hyung. I’m sorry,” He begged, ducking his lips to kiss Minseok’s jaw.

“If you want my forgiveness, you may want to put your mouth in another place.”

It didn’t take him much to obediently open Minseok’s pants, happily greeting his half-hard cock into his mouth. He didn’t move much on his own, almost as if he had missed that weight and length between his lips and he was taking that moment to satiate that need, with soft licks along his cock length.

Minseok grabbed a handful of his honey brown hair, allowing Jongdae to understand that he would be taking control before thrusting into his warm and well-trained mouth with fast and rough movements. Jongdae kept his tearing eyes on him, hips fighting the urge of grinding into the sheets just to see them rolling as if taking a bit of pleasure of something else.

Having his lover spread on the bed, so needy for his touch, but still so submissive was raising questions on Minseok’s mind. 

“Enough, treasure,” he told him, carefully pulling him away from his cock by his hair. “Tell me, you little siren… Are you using the gift I gave you from my last trip?”

Jongdae took a moment to lick his lips before gifting Minseok with innocent eyes and a teasing pout. ”Was I supposed to, Hyung?”

“Show me,” Minseok growled, watching as Jongdae got up to take off his clothes just to bless Minseok with the most tempting view he had ever seen.

On his last trip, to the Persian Gulf, he had come across a beautiful thing, made by the Mughals and that would look beautiful in his baby: a golden ring carved with small gems to be used around one’s cock with a small chain connected to an also rather small golden plug with a circle of small sapphires around the chain—enough to leave one stretch but not enough to hurt or bother. 

They didn’t have the chance to use it before he had to leave again, but now there it was his baby crawling to him with an erect cock and a beautiful garment to go along his gorgeous features.

“You got like that just from sucking me, baby?” he asked, fingertips rubbing over the head of his cock without giving it any real friction. “Show me your backside.”

Jongdae turned at his request, shoulders supporting his weight as he pulled his buttcheeks apart to show to Minseok how the gems shine even more thanks to the essential oil he had used a few hours earlier.

“My sweet little thing, have you ever used this for the past week?” he asked, loving how Jongdae trembled as he kissed around his rim and thighs making the most lovely sounds. ”Answer your Hyung.”

“Y-Yes, Hyung,” he cried in a broken moan as Minseok pulled the plug a bit,” I didn’t know when you would get here. I wanted to surprise you.”

“Oh and you did. Now take it out for me. This plug,” he explained, thumb pulling Jongdae’s rim a bit more, ”is in my way, it is hiding a part of you from me.” 

Without questioning, Jongdae slipped a hand between his legs to pull the plug out, but when it fell into the bed his body felt empty. So needy for more, that he looked at Minseok with teary eyes over his shoulder, letting out a broken ‘Hyung’ from his lips.

“Oh, my baby,” Minseok cooed, pulling him to sit in his lap again, this time having Jongdae’s back against his chest. “My beautiful boy, you are so good for me. Always being so good for your Hyung and taking so good care of what is mine.”

Minseok took his time whispering those words, like allowing his hands to ground his lovers by playing with his nipples and neglected cock for a bit. His lips found their way to his neck, possessively marking it with bite marks that would sure to leave some bruises on the next day.

“Hyung, please. I need you…” Jongdae asked against his lover’s lips, Minseok nodded before kissing him.

This time he kissed him with care, making sure Jongdae was too lost in their kiss to feel the initial burn when he aligned his cock with his stretched rim. But with Jongdae’s preparation, he slid right in with one smooth thrust, taking the moment to watch as Jongdae fell apart in a mourning mess within his arms.

“Can you feel me, love?” he whispered, arms grabbing Jongdae’s hips and manhandling him into moving into his rhythm. “You are so hot, baby, I can feel you swallowing me already.”

Minseok kept the movements short, making sure he was deep in Jongdae as he switched and played with his hard nipples, just to watch Jongdae twitch in his arms. Hips sinfully moving to meet Minseok’s movements.

“Your nipples are so pretty, love, would you ever let me pierce him? I would love to dress you in more jewellery…” 

“M—more, please, more!” Jongdae whined between moans grabbing Minseok’s shoulders.

“As you wish…”

He laid Jongdae once again on his belly and pulled out until it was only the head of his cock in, just to fuck back into him fast and hard. Minseok didn’t let go of Jongdae’s waist as he cried and moaned below him, stopping him from finding his pleasure in the sheets. He knew Jongdae's cock was especially red and swollen by the ring that was stopping him from orgasming as easily as he usually did. But, he wanted to see him find his pleasure and to come untouched. So Minseok took his wrists, crossing them behind his back as he kept the rhythm.

Minseok could feel Jongdae’s walls trying to milk him dry, making his movements grow unregular and ruthless on Jongdae’s prostate.

“Come for Hyung…” he whispered into his ear, feeling his release so close.

Jongdae didn’t stop squeezing at his words, instead, he used his last energies just to meet Minseok's hips every time. The oldest could feel him getting tighter and tighter, body arching in a beautiful way, before spurting his seed all over his chest and Minseok’s sheets.

Minseok lost himself in the tightness of his ass, fucking him through his orgasm just to have his release deep inside his lover. But he doesn’t leave his body right away, choosing instead to take the ring from Jongdae’s cock and kiss his back and neck before taking out his cock.

As he tried to give Jongdae some space, the youngest decided to go for another plan, throwing himself into Minseok arms just to cuddle against his chest.

“I love you, Hyung, please don’t leave again for so long…”

“I love you too, my treasure. But I can not promise you that.”

“Just pretend for a bit…”

He gave Jongdae a tired smile before meeting his lips for a light kiss. “Sure love.”

What was another lie if asked so sweetly? 

Probably nothing in the web Minseok has already tangled around his neck, but in those moments, when his lover was peacefully laying in his arms, Minseok wondered how could he change it. Would he be capable of running faster than the truth or will he end up loving him over words he spoke so carelessly? Could he do it without him?

Jongdae wasn’t an Achilles heel as his crew believed it to be. He was his heart, the piece of land that kept him from getting pulled by the darkness of the sea and his darkness. 

He knew the words everyone whispered about him, at some point he had loved it. The fear in their eyes when he stepped on land, the way they ran just to open the way for him… Minseok still loves to see the moment when their eyes lose the spark of life as their blood drips from his sword. He was in fact as much of a monster as everyone made him out to be, if offered the chance to go back and change things, he wouldn’t take it. No matter the number of chances, Minseok would always choose to sink his claws around Jongdae’s heart and tie him in his web of lies, because the younger man was his humanity and heart, allowing him to run away from him wasn’t an option.

🏴☠️🌊

In the following days, Minseok tried to amuse Jongdae by allowing the youngest to drag him around town just to show him what had changed in the past months.

Some new houses, new sailors, apparently more babies and churches from what Jongdae had told him while they walked the streets of the port of Malacca. One thing Minseok couldn’t help but notice was the new amount of eyes and soldiers. 

He didn’t like it. More eyes meant something was going on and he didn't know about it. How could he not know about it? Sehun and Tao were very reliable as his eyes and ears on land, so loyally protecting his treasure from the truth while keeping him aware of any change in town, since Minseok couldn't just ask it directly to Jongdae without raging some red flags. 

So he waited for the right moment to ask his lover about what was going on, while keeping his crew on the low for a few days. Chanyeol and Junmyeon weren’t big fans of this plan, but it had to be done, Minseok wasn’t about to lose men just because they were foolish enough to overlook a clear threat. 

Eventually, the right moment came when Jongdae made himself invited to his cabin aboard the El Dorado, bearing wine and a smile capable of melting any heart. 

“Oh! And Lady Zheng had another baby while you were out!” Jongdae told him while they lazily laid with their backs against the wooden floor, sharing the wine and konpeitō Minseok had on his desk. 

“I didn’t know her old man still could get it up…” Minseok let it slip with raised brows. 

“That is the best part,” the youngest laughed pulling his body closer to Minseok just to playfully whisper in his ear, “It is not his.”

“No!” He gaped.

“Yes! Sehun told me it was from the slave boy her husband bought to work the land.”

“Looks to me that he worked more land than her husband would like it,” he laughed, amused by the gossip. ”But do tell me, how does Sehun know that?”

“As if he would ever tell anyone how he knows everything…” Jongdae exclaimed, rolling away from Minseok just to sit down a bit, ”I missed these moments.”

“I’m sure Tao will be more than happy to gossip with you all day long, as long as you feed him at least twice.” Jongdae tried to kick him in response to that, but Minseok caught his leg, pulling the youngest to lay against his chest.

“Why do you need to be so mean?” He pouted.

“I’m not mean, not to you,” the older man answered, kissing his forehead.

Jongdae hesitated for a moment and Minseok could see in his eyes that he was carefully selecting his next words. “Do you ever think about leaving the sea?”

“I do, every time we are together. But you know I can’t, treasure.”

“Why?”

“My crew, love, the boys still need their captain,” Minseok explained while glancing at the ceiling. ”And I don’t believe I deserve a way out before they get that option.”

Jongdae brows drew together as he tried to understand the oldest. “What do you mean? Is your employer giving you a hard time?” he wondered, whispering the last bit to himself. “I thought you were your own boss.”

“Life at sea is different, love, but let’s not talk about it.” Jongdae nodded to his request and Minseok offered him a smile while moving a lock of his blond hair from his almond eyes. ”Tell me more about what I missed in the past month. I have noticed a few more soldiers, what is up with that?”

“Nothing really, my father is in town, so his men and fleet are also here,” he mumbled while rubbing his eyes softly. A guilty tick.

“You are lying and I do wonder why. What are you hiding?” Minseok questioned with curious eyes. Jongdae wasn’t one of lying so that was something new.

“I—Father is looking for a pirate ship and he is convinced the ship must have been in our ports not very long ago, so he is blaming me. The extra eyes are to make sure I’m doing my job and not running around acting like a gentile,” Jongdae admitted. 

“And are you?” 

“Playing the gentile or doing my job?”

“Last time I checked laying with a man is not something the clerks approved, so I know you are not being a good Catholic boy,” Minseok mocked, once again showing Jongdae how much he didn’t like those occidental institutions and their so-called god.

“I’m trying, but it’s not easy to find a pirate ship on land.” Jongdae rolled his eyes, mouth pressed into a thin line. “No one ever tells me what to look for, I just know they are brutal and I think I would have noticed if someone like that had stayed in our town…”

 _If only you knew_ , Minseok thought, kissing his lover’s temple. “The fishermen didn’t tell you anything?” 

“No, they never do…” he complained, eyebrows forming a lovely wrinkle that Minseok just leaned in to kiss away as Jongdae kept complaining, “I hate this, Hyung… The locals don’t like me because of my birth and the Europeans don’t trust me because of my looks. Where do I stand?”

“My treasure,” the oldest called with a soft smile, cupping Jongdae’s cheeks in his hands. ”You stand where your loyalty lays, so tell me, where is it?”

Minseok could see the youngest thinking for a moment, eyes focusing on the floor before glazing at Minseok with determination. The same one he had seen in the youngest months ago when he had to keep up for his father as the judge of the town, just to later fall into his arms shaking for taking an innocent man’s life over a sin he was committing.

“In the right thing,” Jongdae declared, nodding at himself. “I want to stand for what is right.”

“Good, then do it.” Minseok shrugged.

“But I don’t know where the pirates are...”

“Love, I meant the other right thing. Standing up to your father. You are not going to find them and he can not blame you when you are on dry land since he brought you to this town. I bet you couldn’t even spot a pirate in a crowd,” he laughed and Jongdae whined to that.

“Yes, I can!”

“Oh, you do? How do you think a pirate looks?” he asked, amused by Jongdae’s pout.

“Probably ugly, scary, and with a lot of scars… Someone you wouldn’t want to cross with on the street.”

“I have a lot of scars and people say I’m scary, am I ugly, love?” 

It was unfair of him to ask Jongdae that. He knew it. He knew he was milking a sugar-coated answer just to keep his peace of mind instead of an honest one. But would Jongdae hate him when the truth came to the surface? When he saw all the blood that was on Minseok’s hands? Or would he love him more for knowing how his love had changed something inside of him, just enough to make him love someone more than anything in the world?

“Yes,” Jongdae answered rather proud of himself. “If your crew wasn’t that handsome I would say that you are a pirate!”

“Maybe I am, who knows? I may be here just to steal their most valuable jewel…” he whispered, slowly closing the space between them. ”You.”

The youngest laughed, eagerly meeting Minseok’s lips as Minseok humbled in contempt. 

Life was easier during those moments when it was just the two of them, alone on his ship. No eyes nor lies. He knew how selfish he was for not wanting to share Jongdae with the whole city that didn’t deserve him or his good heart. Only the gods knew how much Minseok wished he could burn it to ashes every time his little birds told him about the things people say about his treasure. How he is too weak to lead, too European for the natives—with his fancy clothes and strange manners, but too _gentile_ to the Europeans; all because he didn’t look down on his people or their beliefs. 

Those people - the ones from far away lands - Minseok didn’t have any love for them or their ways, some part of him still held some respect for the people of Malacca. He couldn’t blame them for bending the knee to someone that held the power of warships, but then maybe he also couldn’t blame the stronger for taking advantage of their weakness. After all, that was what he did to keep everyone under his thumb and silent about who he was.

But he could blame them for all the life they took under some god’s name just because they were different, or from bringing humans to sell as if they were livestock. Yes, he could blame them for being more like a monster than he was. Just like he could blame the natives of how they mistreated Jongdae every time he had tried to help them or had whispered empty rumours that got the boy punished by the clerks.

Honestly, he would always blame them all for robbing Jongdae of his ethnicity and freedom. The boy had to grow between four walls of stone, thinking he was half Chinese for years, while being completely alone with just a single tutor to teach him everything based on the word of their god. It was hell to break the stigma in him when Minseok decided to play him and it was even harder for Minseok to make love to him for the first time when the boy was shaking and crying over an eternity in hell. Even now, Minseok couldn’t do so much as touch him too much in public without Jongdae shaking in fear of someone noticing. 

One word from his treasure and Minseok was sure he would bring the flames of hell to that island without a second thought, with or without natives in it. 

“Captain!” Jongin shrieked, pushing the door of the cabin open before Minseok could stop him. “You need to see something!”

He wanted to scream at the boy for forcing him to pull away from the lips he had missed for so long, but the alert in his eyes made him sigh and pull his body up from the floor.

“What is it?” Minseok asked with an empty expression.

Jongin didn’t say anything, switching his eyes discreetly to Jongdae. Minseok frowned, pulling the youngest by the arm as he closed the door after giving Jongdae a brief smile.

“Talk fast before I make you dance the Hempen Jig myself,” he hissed.

“Sehun sent one of his girls to us. Things in the city are getting ugly, a lot of eyes everywhere, and the fear is making people start a true witch hunt for any type of strange behaviours.”

“Your point, lad?” 

“The crew thinks it would be better to take the ship somewhere else…” Jongin explained with prudence but as Minseok was opening his mouth, he kept talking faster. “There is a pirate port a few miles south-west from here. We could go and be back in less than three days by foot and we could even leave some men to have more eyes on Jongdae!”

“Shit,” Minseok whispered to himself before nodding to Jongin. ”Go to the hold and let Tao know you are staying with him and Sehun, then go look for Junmyeon and let him know that the crew will need more provisions. Only me and Baekhyun will be coming back, a crew without a ship would be too suspicious and I’m not dumb enough to leave my ship unattended in a pirate port. Now run along.”

“Aye captain!” 

Minseok pulled his hair back, hissing lowly between his teeth as he tried to make sense of what the hell he wasn’t seeing. Something had to be going on for such a wild hunt against basically everyone. What was he missing?

Soon a set of arms wrapped around his waist pulling a smile from his face.

“Is something wrong, love?” Jongdae asked as Minseok turned in his arms to pull Jongdae against his chest.

“Nothing important, I may just have to leave for a couple of days.”

“But you just came back!” he pouted, curling his fingers on Minseok’s shirt.

“I know, but it is business and we are just going to a town close by, I will be back in two days!” he promised, kissing Jongdae’s temple. “Now love, you should go home, it is getting late and I have to prepare for this trip, we will probably leave at dawn.”

“Already, Hyung!?” Jongdae screeched, pulling away from Minseok’s hold.

“Yes, I’m sorry baby… Do you want me to bring you something? Maybe some earrings?” he asked, smiling as Jongdae gave his best to not look at him. ”No? So you also don’t want the gift I bought you from China?”

The youngest gave him a look of curiosity before redoing his pout and looking away again. “Come on, it’s so pretty and I know you are going to forgive me when you see it…”

“Show me…” Jongdae mumbled, still faithful to his pout. Minseok laughed, slowly pulling a string from around his neck that held a beautiful emerald green jade ring. The youngest’s eyes grew wide when he noticed the ring, ”is that supposed to be for me?”

“No, this one is for my other lover, your present is the string,” he teased, taking the string from the ring.

“Bilge rat…” Jongdae scowled looking away from Minseok once again.

“Aw, my love is cursing like a pirate,” Minseok cooed, kissing the youngest cheeks until gaining a laugh from him. “So can you give me your hand or do you want the string? I can think of some ways of having fun with it if you want.”

“Shut up!” he told him, trying to slap his shoulder, but Minseok got a hold of his right hand. The older took his time to place the ring on Jongdae’s annular finger, teasing the youngest by trying it in different fingers before finally placing it, and then kissing it.

“Now seriously, do you like it?”

“I love it… As I always do,” Jongdae promised, leaving a chaste kiss on the other’s lips.

“Good, and you don't want something from out of town?”

“No, just promise me to get your ass back here in two days.”

“I can promise that,” Minseok smiled, kissing him again as he pressed their bodies together. Tongue swirling around the other’s without any shame of being seen.

Jongdae moaned against Minseok’s lips, nails raking across his shoulder after he pressed their hips against one another in a firm movement. Hearing those noises made Minseok’s mind go blank, only wanting to pull more out of his sweet lover, to taste him and manhandle his body until Jongdae’s mind was filled only with Minseok. 

“Min...” Jongdae whined, pushing the oldest by his chest to set his lips free. ”I have to go and I don’t want to be seen hard on the street.”

“Sorry, love, I got too excited,” he laughed, planting the last kiss on Jongdae’s forehead. “Go, before I change my mind.”

“See you soon, Hyung!”

Minseok smiled, allowing his treasure to leave his arms and make his way to the main deck, unaware of the dangers hidden in the shadows of a silent town. 

🏴☠️🌊

Jongdae made his way between empty streets and dark buildings, church bells ringing through his ears as he played with the ring around his finger. A cruel irony - a mockery, reminding him exactly of the sin that the ring represented. How his love wasn’t love in the eyes of his God.

His feet stopped listening to his mind, leading him inside the church halls where holy images stood tall in all their glory, silently judging him as he stood a seat in the last row of the benches. 

It was a strange thing to feel like an outsider in a place Jongdae had once found the peace of a home. When his genes and education failed him, God was there giving him something where he could shine by being good and fair while loving the others. He did it all, never raising taxes on the small local merchants or the poor families in town—Jongdae had even kept his mouth shut about the small Buddhist customs people were still following, not wanting to be the responsible for the blood that would be spilt because of something so minor. But life was cruel and found a way to take from him the only home he had just by using his weakness. His heart.

His God made him love another man. One he could never be sorry for loving. 

Jongdae dropped to his knees, eyes glued on the marbled floor as he crossed himself. 

_Forgive me God for I am doubting you. I heard them say to the others how that illusion of love was nothing but the devil’s temptation, a trial to our faith in you, but I feel it in me. This overwhelming feeling as if I finally found my Eden on earth every time he is wrapped around me._

_He may have his Gods_ — _some rather strange to our eyes_ — _but he is good to me. So why does it have to be wrong? I think he is the right one. So please, I don’t wish for a sign that I’m right, just allow me to keep him…_

“What are you doing here, boy?” an authoritative voice asked him, making Jongdae lift his head to look at said person.

“Praying, Father Li,” he explained to the priest confused by his tone.

“You can’t be here.”

“Oh,” Jongdae whispered, rising to his feet. “Sorry, the doors were open.”

The priest didn’t give him an answer, instead, he turned his back to Jongdae, opening the door as a clear sign it was time for him to leave. Jongdae could see how something was wrong about that moment, but did as asked, not wanting to push it when he wasn’t sure of why the priest was inviting him to leave. After all, the line between safety and danger was very thin when he did have something to hide.

He waited to hear the door closing behind him, but when it never came, he decided to make his way straight home and ignore how his mind was starting to play games with him. Something made him feel anxious, like someone was watching him through the shadows, following his steps and slowly cornering him like a hunted animal. 

_It’s fine, it’s just my mind. Just go home,_ he told himself, fastening his pace, but if it was his mind, why could he hear heavy steps following him? Jongdae didn’t give it a second thought—he wasn’t a fighter and was very aware of that, running between the empty streets until he spotted the lights of his home. Guards proudly standing on the front door with his father between them. 

“Father…” Jongdae called, trying to get to him, only to be met with raised guns at his chest. He tried to hide his surprise, an eyebrow-raising in indignation. “What is the meaning of this?”

“I think you know, don’t you child?”

He pondered on his words, eyes darting to meet his father’s as he heard movement behind him— _more soldiers probably_. ”I don’t. Care to fill me in?”

“For a long time, I thought you were one of my best children. A good Christian and good with the books even if you couldn’t fight like a man. I allowed you to do as you wish with this land and this is how you repaid me?” His father smouldered with resentment. “Spitting in my face by allowing pirates in our port and playing a whore for their captain?”

“I… I did not allow pirates in the city!” Jongdae objected, lifting his chin, hands tightened into fists as he tried to keep a straight face.

“But you did, child.” His father took a step to the side showing Jongdae a face he was familiar with. 

Tao. _Why?_

“You know him, don’t you, Jongdae? The kid sold his whole crew out for a bag of gold, you included.” He didn’t say a word. “He told us everything, from how they planned to attack our ships to how their captain intended to seduce you to get easy access to your ports and routes. I will spare your life for it is my blame to have raised such a naive son.”

Jongdae didn’t hear a thing, head echoing with the words his father said. So it had all been a lie. A plan. He had been nothing more than a means to an end, some silly game Minseok was paying just to get to a bigger goal. Even to those he was closer with, Jongdae was nothing.

His lover, the kind man he had vowed to love with only their Gods as witnesses, was all but a fraud. A character Minseok build to hide the pirate Jongdae had spent the last days reading about: a cold-blooded murder that only sailed under a red flag. How many lives had the hands that touched his body so many times taken? How many drops of blood had touched the lips he had once worshipped? How many had been on their knees looking up at his lover and begging for their lives just like Minseok stood on many nights loving him?

“You will stay the night with the clerks, they will… clean you. And tomorrow you will be shipped off to Macau where a friend of mine will be waiting to take you to your new fiance’s family.” 

A soldier grabbed his arm, pulling him roughly when Jongdae couldn’t wrap his head around everything he had just heard. Mouth moving before he had a chance to filter his words and the cost they could have.

“Don’t hurt him,” his weak voice pleased, body pulling against the soldier’s force. “I will pay the price, just let him go.”

“How foolish are you boy? Do you expect me to let a wanted pirate escape before my bastard asked nicely?” His father shook his head. “Take him, the boy lost his mind to the devil.”

He didn’t fight it nor did he cried for forgiveness as they pushed him, knowing his destiny would still be on the stone-cold ground of a cell block surrounded by clerks that would do God knows what to him in the name of salvation. Somehow it didn’t surprise him. Minseok had been too good, a dreamlike chapter in Jongdae’s life. But in the end, it was another thunderstorm at dusk—a beautiful sight that pulled him in before he could see the lighting that would forever mark his skin before the waves pulled him into an eternal bed sheet of salt.

Minseok would forever be that lighting and salt in his lungs. 

🏴☠️🌊

_Red sky at night, sailor's delight; red sky in the morning, sailors take warning_ , Minseok recited to himself as he walked around a ghost town.

Some sayings were to be listened to and Minseok should have taken it as a bad omen when the red sky greeted him on the horizon. However, nothing could prepare him for the silence and tension that filled the streets.

They knew something was wrong when neither Jongin nor Tao came to greet them at the city’s gates. It was their duty to report to them the situation in the town, but as Baekhyun pointed out at the closed doors of Sehun’s tavern, it became clear the situation was more than a minor fault from their youngest. 

“Do you think they were...?” Baekhyun questioned in a whisper, eyes scanning the streets as they searched for a sign.

Minseok shook his head—steps and whispers could be heard in the shadows, people were hiding. The town was not as much as graveward as it’s empty street could lead them to believe. But the unasked question stood: where were their youngest? And most importantly, was Jongdae safe and sound?

He stopped in front of the tavern, theory forming in his mind as he took slow steps in the bar’s direction. Sehun’s little birds weren’t dumb nor fragile, and, as he analyzed the neatly blocked windows, it’s become clear one of them had survived in its cage to tell him a tale.

Baekhyun watched, amused, as the oldest—mindlessly—kicked the wooden door down. “You know, calling them would be easier.”

“No time for that shit.”

Calmly, Minseok stepped inside as heavy steps could be heard echoing around the building. The little birds were running away but from who? Minseok, or someone else? Had one of them sang a bit too much on the wrong branch? 

With a sharp glimpse, the order was given. Baekhyun took his gun from his waist belt, a single shot hitting the centre chandelier of the tavern and ceasing all steps.

“Now, little birdies, come sit on my porch, will you?” Minseok ordered, steady voice filling the tense silence as he sat in the middle of the main room watching as one by one the girls started gathering around them.

The fear in their eyes was overwhelming but the glimpse of relief in them had Minseok’s stomach twisting—they weren’t the ones they were running from.

“Spill it, where is your boss?” Baekhyun asked, arms crossed over his chest as he stood behind Minseok.

“We don’t know, he told us to hide until he came back.”

“Why did he leave you alone?” The girls looked at each other, silent words being exchanged as they decided who would talk.

“There was an _auto-da-fé,_ ” a brave little bird shuddered, eyes avoiding Minseok’s. 

Minseok arched an eyebrow, eyes meeting Baekhyun’s. “Those aren’t very common around here…” Baekhyun commented, questioning how that could be of their interest. It didn’t take him long to read between the lines: the fear in their eyes as they looked down to Minseok’s boots, the silent town, the missing members… 

Baekhyun closed his eyes while Minseok’s icy voice broke the silence. “Who?” Minseok questioned. The girls trembled, bodies pressing a bit closer, Baekhyun tried to swallow the knot in his throat as his hand grabbed Minseok’s shoulder before the eldest could stand up.

“Min—” Minseok slapped his hand away, body rising as he asked once again, “Who?”

“We didn’t know, we swear!” one of them shrieked, curling into the body next to her.

 _Wrong answer_ , Baekhyun shook his head, eyes drifting to the open door while the oldest made his way in the girl’s direction. Minseok ran his fingers through her hair, before pulling it up, forcing the girl to stretch her torso as her legs gave in to fear.

“I’m not answering away. Say it.”

“T—Tao a-and y—your boy,” she cried, “but he is not dead!” 

“Where is he then?” he demanded, gripping her black locks.

“We—we don’t know,” she slurred as the pull in her hair became harder,” He was wearing a _samarra_ but a girl followed them out of town and he got on a ship! They wouldn’t burn him in a ship!”

“Minseok,” Baekhyun grabbed his elbow to have his attention, “we need to find the others. They may know something.”

Minseok looked at him, empty eyes and blank face as he let go of her hair. “No.”

“What do you mean ‘no’?”

“I will bury this city in ashes and bones, burn down every building and spar no soul, until they give me answers. We won’t search nor hide, we will give them the hell they fear.”

Baekhyun stopped Minseok as he tried to walk out of the tavern. “Don’t go around doing something stupid, Minseok.”

The oldest grabbed his wrist, switching it as he pressed it against the other’s back. “I don’t care about your words Byun, stay to help or die with them for all I care.”

“Those are Jongdae’s people! Even I know that and I’m not his bestie!”

“Did they stop them as they paraded him around town?” Minseok asked, his jaw pressed tightly. “They did nothing for him as far as I know. They never did! Those people don’t deserve him as a leader!”

“He still loves them!” Baekhyun screamed back at Minseok, escaping from his grip. He sat down on the wooden floor, looking directly at Minseok’s eyes. “Don’t give him another reason to hate you more.”

 _Right,_ Minseok thought, _he must know I’m a pirate. What have I done?_

Was it his fault? Were the Gods finally making him pay for his sins - taking his lover as payment over the lives he took? 

_No,_ Jongdae was still alive. If his heart was beating there was hope for Minseok to find him, to take him back as his, because that was what Jongdae was. His. Always would be. It was only a matter to find out where to look for him and he knew exactly who to ask.

“Send two of the girls to the ship. Bring the crew back.”

“They will attack us if we try to enter the port.”

“No, they wouldn’t. Tomorrow by dawn, we will have our mates back.”

“How?” Baekhyun asked.

Minseok looked at him—the cold glance making a shiver run along his spine. 

"Lighting them up."

🏴☠️🌊

_Father, forgive them for they do not know better._

_Forgive those who hate and stone the blessed ones. They do not know love like the one You gave._

_Please, God, protect him. Protect my blessing from them and from himself, for his heart will be filled with anger and hatred. Give him enough strength to overcome them._

"Jongdae…"

_Forgive me, for I too, have hatred in my heart._

"Please, talk to me…" Tao pleaded.

"What?" Jongdae asked, stopping his prayer to look up to the boy’s cage.

"I'm sorry."

"A bit too late for that don't you think so?" He gestured towards the bars of his own cage and the rats that ran around the hold. 

“He… He told me he wouldn’t hurt you,” Tao tried to explain himself, arms wrapping themselves around his long legs in an attempt to give himself some comfort, but that just reminded Jongdae of how young the boy was.

“What is done is done, even if I fail to understand why you would betray your crew in such a way.” _And me._

His brows knitted in a frown, eyes turned to the ground, “I wanted a way out of this life…”

“By betraying the hand that held you when no one else did?” 

“It wasn’t like that!” Tao argued, “Minseok is not that good of a man… He may be kind to you, but to us, he is the closest thing to a devil. I saw him kill thousands! I cleansed their blood from the main deck after hearing them beg for mercy...”

“And still he didn’t raise his sword to you did he?” Jongdae countered, narrowing his eyes at the youngest.

Tao shook his head. “It doesn’t matter what I say… You will never see the monster, will you?”

Jongdae wanted to ask him what monster, but his heart burned with hatred as he glanced at the other. The boy didn’t deserve his attention nor his time after betraying him. One day, he surely would find in himself to forgive him, after all, he still acknowledged that his stupidity and naiveness came from being almost a child - but for now, he couldn’t forgive as his destiny was on the line. 

_Their destiny_.

“You speak of Minseok as if he is more of a monster than a man… Do you think they will be able to catch him?” Jongdae asked, crossing his legs on the wooden floor to lean on the boy’s direction. 

“He will go to them.”

“Minseok is not a fool.”

“He is when it comes to you,” Tao said, rolling his eyes. “The bloodlust will blind him, he may burn down the city just to find out what happened to you.”

Jongdae shook his head with a frown. “He wouldn’t.”

“Wouldn’t he? Come on Jongdae… You know better than to be blind to the truth—you were stoned, cast away from all you ever knew after hearing that the man you love is a cold-blooded killer, and even know does your heart feel anything but love for that monster?” Jongdae didn’t answer as Tao raised his voice. “No, it doesn’t. Because in some part of your heart you already knew, didn’t you? The trips, the random cargo we bought in, and all the little jokes we made about him only being nice to you…”

 _Yes,_ his instincts knew something was off, but the price of seeing was one he didn’t want to pay. 

But now, he had already paid for it, didn’t he? From being shipped off to be paraded between the streets of the town he grew up in, garments marked with the symbol of his sin for everyone to know why he was being treated as a criminal. His city, job, people, and family, all gone in a matter of hours because he fell in love. Jongdae didn’t care about what Minseok would do, those people to whom he had once offered his hand, had taken picked up stones to attack him and offered nothing but hurtful words without looking onto their own sins and how he had once protected them from that same destiny—whatever Minseok did would be God’s payment. But did Minseok care about him enough to do something? 

“Did he love me?” Jongdae wondered, left hand wrapping around his, now bared, ring finger. “Or was it all a trick as father said?”

“I… I believe, somehow, you made a stone-heart beat.”

Jongdae closed his eyes, head dropping against the wooden wall of the cage. “He isn’t a stone-hearted monster...”

Tao turned his eyes from Jongdae, slightly shaking his head. What did Jongdae know? He had only seen the man within the beast—they knew better, the crew that stood by him and had to do what was necessary in his eyes. 

Little did Jongdae know how the hand that petted his hair so many times had been soaked into honest men’s blood or how, by now, it probably already had killed hundreds of Jongdae’s peoples on a search for revenge. But that spilt blood, Tao couldn’t blame him; It was on his hands for being played as a fool.

“Jongdae,” Tao called once more as he lied on the floor searching for a comfortable position, “When we get to China, I’m going to find a way to get you out of this. I own you that much…”

🏴☠️🌊

Ash and smoke blinded them as their fragile bodies ran looking for shelter. A place to lay and hide while their Church burned to the ground and demons walked among them at the death of night.

_Cowards._

Minseok could only laugh as they ran, crying for their God in hopes He would spare them from Minseok’s range. _Lucky brats,_ he noticed as he waited. Tonight wasn’t their turn to meet the other side, _except if he takes too long._ How long would take the snake to leave this nest as his little town fell to the flames? 

Not much, Minseok hoped. It would take the fun out of all the chaos if their dear vice-captain didn’t come to watch it: the screaming people, the growing fires, the soon free prisoners that Baekhyun went to break out of jail… The true fall of his city and the end of his career once other cities of their empire came to know of it. Maybe allowing people to live was the best option, they could run around spreading the story of how a pirate made a fool out of them and their religion. He knows they will leave the reason out of it, not knowing why he did all of it. But the vice-captain already knew why.

No one was allowed to take Jongdae from him. 

Much less a man that had given nothing but pain to his son.

There was no mercy in Minseok’s heart as he watched the man run through the chaos, face twisted in confusion as his men divided themselves into groups to help evacuate the city and fight the fires. He felt only joy and the man looked around trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together as to why, when, and how such a tragedy could fall on them. 

Minseok left the shadows, silently stepping toward the man as the smoke hidden them and the man fell into his knees in front of the church, clearly fearing it to be the holy rage of their god. “What a pitiful man…”

“Who…” he tried to rise to his feet before turning but Minseokwas quicker, kicking his back to have pressed against the floor. 

“Don’t. Bilge rats like you don’t get to stand,” Minseok stepped on his back, heavy boot keeping the man from trying to move. ”Where is he? Where did you send Jongdae?”

“You are his pirate, aren’t you?” Laughter could be heard only breaking as the man's lungs filled with smoke. “He’s been cleansed from all sin now.”

Shocking his head, Minseok wanted to scream, tortured him into giving him an answer, but he knew nothing would come from his mouth for dying would be better in his eyes than to allow his son to be happy. It was business to him and the transaction was already in the process anyway.

Minseok allowed his anger to take over, pressing his sword onto his back and as deep as he could into the ground, pinning him to wait for death to come to him. Asphyxiation, blood loss, or the flames—it didn’t matter which one would drag the old rat into eternal damnation, it only mattered that he wouldn't live to see another red sky.

But it didn’t feel like a win. Not when he didn’t have an answer to where Jongdae was. 

In the back of his mind, Minseok was praying to something—to someone—as he walked back to lay on the shore, waiting for the others to arrive. _There is hope,_ he thought. Sehun and Jongin followed him, they went to jail for it. They had to know something, anything would be enough. The direction the ship took, how many provisions they had, how many men they took… anything would be enough to narrow down his list of possibilities.

Jongdae had to be on their side of the globe - taking him somewhere where he has nothing more than a bastard and a gentile looking noble would be useful. No, the old man didn’t kill him because he was useful. He had to be close.

Minseok decided to wait for Baekhyun and the boys to decide their next move. They came with the morning sun, Baekhyun carrying their weight as they leaned on his shoulders, clearly having taken a beating not long ago. The oldest went to them, taking Jongin from Baekhyun just so they could seat them on the sand without hurting them.

“Are you okay?” Minseok asked, ignoring how surprised Baekhyun looked at the question.

“Yeah, there were so many prisoners that we managed to escape unnoticed.”

“Did they say what happened to them?”

“What we expected. They followed Jongdae and Tao to the boat, got caught snooping around, and sent to jail. Got to find your boy?”

“He wasn’t going to say anything…” Minseok shook his head pointing at the boys. “They are my last hope, I think he is somewhere around between China and Japan, but I have no way of knowing for sure.”

Baekhyun rolled his eyes, leaning into Jongin’s face to lightly hit his cheek. “Hey, did you hear something about the ship?”

“Macau… marriage…” Jongin mumbled sleepily as he curled himself in the sand to sleep a bit more.

“Well, this isn’t good…” Baekhyun said, looking at Minseok.

“No. But it’s something… We can get to Macau in a week or less.”

“They still are at least three days ahead of us and you would still need to find him in the city. You may not make it in time…”

“I will try it anyway!”

_I’m not losing him._

🏴☠️🌊

“Wake up,” a guard called, throwing cold water at them. “We arrived.”

Jongdae cleaned his face on his shirt, raising from the ground as Tao did the same. After a week dealing with the guards, it wasn’t surprising to be awoken in such a way and Jongdae was almost happy to finally leave the ship. Years on land make the travel by the sea a nightmare and they had a plan, playing along was better than to risk it all. 

They stood in front of the doors as the guards came in. One wrapped a rope tightly around Tao’s wrists before dragging him to the main deck, as for Jongdae… he wasn’t to be seen as a prisoner by the people, but as a grown to be. They dressed him in fine robes, cleaning his face and wrapping his curt hair into a small topknot before taking him up to see the sun for the first time in days. It burned his eyes as he blinked, anxious to see anything about the land they bought him in.

It didn't look like home. The people had different robes and the women used makeup while the people’s status could be easily be differenced by the way they dressed and behaved. Only their physical traits weren’t strange to him—they looked more like him than his father and his people even looked.

“Like it? Will be your home from now on,” the guard told him and pulled him to start walking out of the ship.

Rolling his eyes, Jongdae looked over his shoulder to see Tao behind him. “What are you doing with him?”

“Sell him back, we have ordered to deliver you and sell him to the family. The boy was only our insurance in case you got sick or died on the trip.”

That was good to hear. 

It made him feel better about what was about to happen—in a way it would save both of them even if Tao’s destiny wasn’t the best, it would still be better than to be sold. Jongdae waited for them to reach solid ground before stepping with his heel first into the guard’s foot, hitting him then with his elbow when he felt the guard’s hand letting go of his arms. There was time to look back, but from the cries, he could guess that Tao was already dealing with his guards. Quickly, Jongdae pushed the man into the sea, running without any direction in mind before the guards still on the ship had time to get to him. 

_Tao will be fine,_ he thought to himself. They needed to deliver someone and he would find him someday if he managed to survive in this unknown city.

He ran for about an hour, not knowing when it was safe to stop and look back, before finally laying against the wall of an alley. From what he could hear, no one was behind him, but it was better to lay low for a couple of hours, then Tao had told him to sell something to have enough to live by for a couple of days. _Then come back to the shore_ , Tao had told him. It was crucial that he waited around the shore they had arrived, for that was where Minseok would surely look for him, around the noble houses and markets. 

Jongdae had his doubts, not knowing if Tao was overestimating Minseok’s love, but those were orders easy to follow when he had nowhere to go and nothing in his name. Looking at the ring Minseok had given him, Jongdae knew it was the only thing he had that could give him enough money to survive.

If Minseok came to him, he surely wouldn't blame him for selling it; If he didn’t, then Jongdae would have one less totem to carry with him. But he prayed he did, cause Jongdae would be waiting for him as the sun and the moon danced across the sky. 

A couple of days turned into a week and Jongdae was starting to lose hope as his pocket became lighter and his heart heavier. Spending his days walking around the city, he watched as the ships came and went and listened as the young girls called about strangers in town, but they never were Minseok. 

He knew he would be patient. The trip by itself took a week and Minseok was out of town when everything happened, it could take more than a month of waiting or it could never come. Little did he know about the ship that had anchored a few kilometres out of town in the past couple of days, how it left within a few minutes after leaving behind the one that had led them for years to sail under a new captain.

In a city full of people, it was only a matter of time and luck until Jongdae could be found by the man that had spent days looking for him in that same city. A wrong turn taken, two rooms rented a few doors from each other, a couple of minutes late in the morning—it was all but bad luck that kept them from each other, even if each had their own view. To Minseok it was his punishment and his trial, it had to be for in that city he felt like it was impossible to find Jongdae, but he found the ring the other had sold and it gave him the hope that somehow his lover had escaped, for it was a better though that to think he had given up on him. To Jongdae, it was God’s way of testing how much they could walk for their love.

The answer to that question was revealed to be a month. During a full month, they walked in circled around each other, not nothing about the other’s presence always not too far from the other, until Jongdae decided it was safe enough to take the risk of spending a few days sitting in the same spot right by the city’s pier, just waiting as everyone passed him by.

Words travelled fast and soon Minseok heard about the man sitting by the pier that was waiting for someone. He ran as fast as he could the word ’maybe’ echoing in his mind until he finally stood behind the man. The man was skinnier than Jongdae was and had longer hair but when he turned to look over his shoulder, Minseok kneeled by him happy to see that face once again.

“Hyung?” 

Minseok nodded, manhandling him into his arms, carefully pressing him against his chest. “I found you… God, finally I found you.”

“Took you long enough,” he murmured, face buried on Minseok’s neck as he allowed himself the comfort of Minseok’s touch.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry…”

 _It was fine,_ Jongdae though, closing his eyes. They could work it though, they could fix everything that was broken, because Jongdae couldn’t handle hating Minseok when his heart was beating for him and Minseok was sure Jongdae was more to him than the air in his lungs. No more pain could come to him as Minseok was ready to build a shelter from his flesh and bones to keep him from any more harm.

On the end of that evening, they stood below the red sky, silently resting their hearts for the storm had ended and they were home in a fortress no one could shake for it was forged in something more than stones and blood. There, in the peace of a silent 'I love you', two colonized hearts were sure their scars would cauterize, with time, as they would keep holding tighter during every wave and every storm.

🏴☠️🌊

**Author's Note:**

> Glossary and context:  
> Set in the 16th century, the city of Malacca was a European colony of the Franks and an obligatory passing point of the Black Ships from an island in Japan to Goa and vice-versa. Those Franks at the time had been banned from China and the people couldn’t trade with them, until they got a deal to have a trade colony in Macau.  
> That ban also led to a new wave of piracy around the Asian colonies and China.  
> Captain-Mor: The colonies have their own political system depending on the empire. For the Franks, they had a Vice-King that should rule their Asian colonies following the King’s orders and serving as his ears and eyes, however, he stayed in Goa, so every city they “conquer” needed to have a fort and walls defining its extension and for every city were as a captain-mor.  
> That person would serve as kind of a mayor that just looked over everything and decided what to report back to the Vice-King monthly. He controlled the army, elections of other political organs, commerce within the city and only didn’t have power over the trials because inquisition was applied in most colonies. Of course, this led to corruption because everyone  
> wanted power and money shut all of the people back then.  
> Gentiles: a pagan, or in most cases, someone that resisted the European way of living, holding onto their traditions and beliefs.  
> Inquisition: Basically is a Catholic Tribunal that used fun things like torture to pick on the minorities and force everyone to live ‘by the bible’ and in fear of pissing anyone off because they could fake an accusation very easily.  
> Auto-da-fé: As I said, Inquisition was a thing in the colonies. An auto-da-fé is a ritual of public penance that is basically a public trial that ends with Mass, a public procession of the found those who were found guilty and the reading of their sentences. Different for the story, those usually take like 30-40 days to organize. After the procession, the prisoners are taken to the burning place, where their sentence is read: those could go from having their sentence suspended to physical punishment like whipping and torture to being burned at the stake.  
> Samarra: It’s the name of one of three sanbenitos used by the prisoners. Sanbenitos are tunics with different draws that show the punishment those prisoners will get. The Samarra had painted dragons, devils and flames that told people that the individual wearing it would be burned alive on the stake.  
> In general they are only called Sanbenitos but at the time the different names made it simpler to pass the word around town.


End file.
